Goodbye, Joe Biden, and good riddance.
I hope the Democrat party is relegated to a permanent minority position, too.
It is my opinion that Joe Biden and several individuals within his administration should be prosecuted for treason.
Democrat Leadership cannot be trusted with power by a rational populace.
Here are ten reasons why Democrats should never be trusted with national leadership again.
First, Democrat leadership conspired with leftist, Neo-Marxist (woke) idealogues to terrorize the nation in 2020-2021.
The most violent and enduring BLM/Antifa riots of 2020 arose in Democrat-run cities and were supported by so-called progressive mayors.
A few examples are Ted Wheeler of Portland, Oregon and Jenny Durkan of Seattle, Washington.
Rioter chants, graffiti, and lists of demands reflected current and previous Democrat positions on a number of topics.
Democrat leadership has a cozy relationship with leftist activists. Activists are the militant arm of the party.
This alliance between the Democrat party and leftist activists was recently demonstrated at the presentation of arch-villain George Soros with the Presidential Freedom Medal by President Joe Biden.
Soros-related foundations fund political campaigns of prosecutors and district attorneys in large cities who hold his leftist beliefs.
These prosecutors and district attorneys view criminals as victims of oppression who deserve so-called social justice 1.
In many cases, crimes are not prosecuted, bail is not imposed, and laws are not enforced in cities with Soros-funded prosecutors and district attorneys.
Second, Democrat leadership makes radical decisions with little regard for the welfare of common Americans.
The Keystone pipeline decision was one of the first instances of this behavior, with many more to follow.
Biden disrupted the lives of energy workers by canceling the Keystone pipeline to appease leftist environmentalists.
This cancellation affected the financial well-being of energy workers involved with this project, as well as their families.
Consumers experienced higher energy costs and other inflation from similar decisions by the Biden administration.
Workers were told to seek positions within the green energy industry. Biden’s administration failed to tell them this might involve relocation to China.
Let them eat cake, screams the Democrat elite.
Third, Democrat leadership is incapable of sound reasoning required for crucial economic decisions.
Their ideology handicaps their ability to conduct objective cost/benefit analyses.
Take fossil fuels for example. Fossil fuels are good. Fossil fuels are plentiful.
Fossil fuels allow men to flourish in harsh environments. Fossil fuels power air conditioners, furnaces, computers, and medical equipment that save countless lives.
Solar and wind solutions are not realistic. Neither are dependable. Neither are capable of meeting our needs.
Increased nuclear power plant usage would be dependable and can meet most of our needs, but the left finds them unacceptable.
The claims of the left concerning fossil fuels are overblown anyways. It is estimated that we have enough fossil fuels to provide energy for centuries. And, it is not clear that human activities significantly affect the climate of the planet.
At the same time, it is wise to practice balanced conservation and to develop alternatives.
Democrat leadership would bankrupt our nation pursuing their impractical solutions to appease panicked activists, though.
I recommend Alex Epstein as a good source of information on the subject of fossil fuels. See the Related Content section for more.
Fourth, Democrat leadership uses deception to gain control and to hide the failures of their policies. This deception is often exercised through social and news media allies.
Crime is a good example.
Progressive2 policies that coddle criminals as victims of oppression and bail reform that releases dangerous repeat offenders have caused a radical increase in crime.
Biden’s administration and media allies claim that crime has been reduced under Biden’s administration.
This is a deceptive claim.
If 2019 crime levels are used as the basis to compare against 2023, crime under the Biden administration is elevated. Murders have increased 26%, aggravated assault has increased 10% and motor vehicle theft has increased 33%.
I suspect the media uses 2020 crime statistics as the basis for comparison. Crime in 2020 was elevated due to the BLM/Anifa effect. Democrat leadership encouraged crime during this period, therefore it is unfair to attribute it to the Trump administration.
Incidentally, there are many problems with recent crime data. Many cities, including large cities, have opted to decline to provide actual crime data to the FBI crime database.
Additionally, since police response is slow due to defunding and rogue prosecutors and judges are not seeking actual criminal justice, some crime remains unreported out of frustration. Crimes are plead down from felonies to misdemeanors to make the crime statistics look better.
Crime is up since the Trump administration, and the public knows it.
I have observed that Democrat leaders rarely admit the failures of their policies. Instead, they hide the results of failed policies through sophistry, blaming others (especially Donald Trump) and relying upon their media allies to obscure the truth.
Fifth, Democrat leadership is willing to jeopardize personal and national safety to further their agenda.
Biden allowed millions of inadequately vetted immigrants to enter the nation under the false pretense of asylum.
Some are violent criminals and others are potential terrorists. Most are peaceful people that are seeking a better life.
On September 24, 2024, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provided requested data to Congress regarding known non-citizen criminals in the United States.
Democrat leadership in major cities often protect such non-resident criminals through sanctuary laws.
Crimes of non-citizen criminals include 662,566 individuals who have committed a wide variety of crimes, including assault (108,992), burglary (18,058), commercialized sexual offenses (4,001), other sexual offenses (12,626) dangerous drug offenses (72,059), homocide (15,272), kidnapping (3,484), larceny (31,179), robbery (12,426), stolen property (4,155), stolen vehicles (3,943), traffic offenses (128,153), and weapons offenses (17,416).
97 percent of these criminals are not detained.
See the Redacted video in the Related Content section for more details.
Another major safety issue is the problems that can arise regarding non-citizens who do not share the same essential beliefs of the general populace. A recent example is the disturbances caused by radical Islamists who have rioted and engaged in anti-Semitic violence in response to the Israel-Hamas war. This affects other Western nations besides our own.
The grooming of hundreds of minors by older Pakistani men in Great Britain is another example of safety concerns caused by leftists who believe in globalist principles. Some Muslims consider it to be acceptable to sexually assault Western women because, as non-Muslims, they are kafir (“infidels”).
This clash of culture has led to the long-term grooming and unpunished sexual abuse of hundreds of underage Anglo British schoolgirls over decades.
Political and law enforcement authorities have turned a blind eye to this hideous crime for fear of the racist label.
I suspect similar indulgences would be granted under Democrat leadership, who are closely aligned with European globalists.
Diversity is not our strength if assimilation into Western values, which are based loosely upon biblical principles, is not accomplished within the immigrant population.
Our nation was founded on essentially Christian principles which correctly considers the grooming and sexual abuse of children to be abhorrent.
Sixth, Democrat leadership has shown itself willing to violate fundamental constitutional rights to silence those who challenge their agenda.
This includes censoring and/or prosecuting conservatives like pro-life activists and parents who express their displeasure with the indoctrination of children into wokeness and gender ideology, and the implementation of comprehensive sex education3 at their local public (government) school systems.
Recently, Mark Zuckerberg admitted on the Joe Rogan show that the Biden administration harassed his staff and demanded that Meta censor users on their forum to align with their on a number of topics including the Steel dossier issue, Covid19 and the Hunter Biden laptop issue. Biden administration employees reportedly called Facebook officians and cursed and screamed at them over their reluctance to censor users. The company was threatened with lawfare if they failed to submit to the demands of the Biden administration.
Seventh, Democrat leadership has weaponized the federal agencies (FBI, DOJ, IRS) against their political enemies and turned a blind eye to leftist activists who attack their political opponents.
A good example is the allowance of protests outside homes of Supreme Court justices in an effort to change their mind about the leaked impending Dobbs decision. This is illegal per 18 U.S. Code 1507 and constitutes an implicit threat to affect the outcome of a judicial matter.
Pro-life activists have been harrassed by the FBI and prosecuted by the DOJ under the FACE Act for minor infringements that constitute, at most, disorderly conduct while leftist activists have not been subjected to the same standards for their egregious behaviors.
The FBI and DOJ did not commit the resources to investigate BLM/Antifa rioters and the vandalism and arson of crisis pregnancy centers, for example, but they vigorously persecuted and prosecuted pro-life activists following the Dobbs decision for protests that occurred months before.
Examples include the Washington, DC clinic protest (October 2020), the Mount Juliet, Tennessee clinic protest (March 2021) and the Sterling Heights, Michigan clinic protest (August 2020).
Those sentenced in connection with these protests include death camp survivor Eva Edl, 89, and Joan Bell, 76. Edl received 90 days home detention and 3 years probation. Bell was imprisoned for 27 months by a heartless leftist judge who mocked her husband’s request for leniency due to her health issues.
Pro-lifer Mark Houck, father of seven young children, was apprehended at his home by twenty well-armed FBI agents following an incident where he pushed a clinic worker away from his minor child due to threatening behavior. This incident had been investigated by local authorities who declined to pursue actions against Houck. After the Dobbs decision, he was apprehended at his home by the FBI and charged with FACE violations. He faced eleven years in prison. Fortunately, Biden’s administration was not successful in their attempts to prosecute him.
The disparate treatment of conservative activists versus leftist activists is appalling. Consider, for example, the violent BLM/Antifa activists who were not charged for their rioting, looting and burning in 2020 and the virtually nonexistent effort towards finding vandals of crisis pregnancy centers.
And, of course, President Trump has been prosecuted in several Democrat jurisdictions in bogus show trials that were definitely politically motivated by Democrat leadership.
Hopefully, President Trump will free peaceful protesters like pro-life activists, as well as the non-violent protesters at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
I suspect President Trump will execute a number of pardons related to these individuals, and I will thank God for the exercise of true justice.
Eighth, Biden and his administration made us look like a nation of fools.
I will provide several examples of Biden administration decisions that have made us into laughingstocks.
Biden’s ambassadors displayed the LGBT flag over the embassies in other countries. These flags were displayed over embassies in the Vatican City State and Muslim nations, both of whom hold strong convictions in regards to unbiblical sexual behavior.
Biden appointed Richard/Rachel Levine as Assistant Secretary for Health of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Levine is a transgender4 who believes that children should be transitioned based upon fleeting body dysphoria which has been proven to resolve itself with the passage of puberty in the vast majority of cases.
An obese man with mental health problems is not qualified to advise others on matters of health.
Biden’s Department of Energy hired Sam Brinton to manage spent nuclear fuel. Brintom is the infamous gender-fluid man who stole womens’ luggage at airports and wore the apparel of his victims in public.
In a grotesque spectacle, Rachel/Richard Levine and Sam Brinton appeared as a couple to represent the United States at the French Embassy on Bastille Day. Both men were wearing dresses.
Dylan Mulveney, a transgender, was given a private interview with Joe Biden at the White House.
Pride Month was celebrated on the White House grounds. One participant came barechested and exposed children to the spectacle.
Benito Skinner, a flamboyant gay comedian, was hired by the White House to flit about the White House, posing as the “Gen Z Intern”, to promote the Covid vaccine to the American public.
Democrat staffers engaged in gay sex on meeting tables in Capitol meeting rooms. Videos were posted in online forums.
Biden’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) provided advice to “trans women” (delusional men) and their alleged ability to breast feed infants through the use of pharmaceuticals. This phoney breast milk has no nutritional value and could be harmful to the infant.
Military recruitment ads focused on LGBT related themes. This focus upon LGBT issues seriously impacted recruiting efforts. Military recruitment efforts experienced a serious shortfall under the Biden administration.
All of these occurrences were sources of humiliation to the American public and embarrassments to our nation that made us the laughingstocks of the globe.
This emasculation of the American military is another source of ridicule for our nation. Leftist political leadership accused the military of racism and white supremacy. It renamed military properties and equipment from the names of military heroes to more woke acceptable names.
The USNS Harvey Milk, for example, was named after a pederast, was christened by a transgender during Biden’s administration. Several ships have also been named after leftist activists.
The iconic Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty because the left disliked its association with General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate war general.
The left is aware of the power of cultural memory. The left intentionally seeks to destroy the cultural memory of a nation. They constantly criticize historical figures of their opposition. They do not acknowledge that these figures had positive traits that are worthy of emulation, along with negative traits and sins that are not worthy of emulation. They live in a cartoon world where their opposition is a mere caricature whose memory must be obliterated.
Instead, they honor pederasts like Harvey Milk and other leftist activists who mean nothing to warriors, and are unworthy of emulation.
Historically, brave, young, masculine Southern men have comprised the backbone of the US military, not effete men and leftist women.
Shaming them through destruction of Southern monuments and renaming of military bases and ships to erase the memory of their heroes is not the way to demonstrate an appreciation for their sacrifices.
Many qualified, service-minded young men from military families decided not to join the military under the Biden administration and sought employment in civilian occupations. I hope this trend is reversed under Trump’s administration and future Republican administrations by a proper respect for the military and the contribution of Southern men.
Ninth, Democrat leadership intentionally undermines Republican presidencies through the bureaucracy.
Bureaucrats are supposed to support the president despite personal political affiliation. The bureaucracy is predominantly staffed with Democrats.
Under a Republican president, though, the bureaucracy conducts an overt effort to undermine his objectives. All sound-minded individuals know that an employee is responsible for carrying out the objectives of company leadership. All soldiers know that they are held accountable for carrying out the objectives of their commanders. A rare exception would be clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional actions.
Leftist bureaucrats intentionally undermine Republican administrations particularly by deliberately slow-walking the implementation of his directives.
See the discussion between William Wolfe and Kevin Roberts in the Related Content section below for a discussion of subversive activities of Democrat idealogues within the bureaucracy.
I hope subversive bureaucrats are fired early within the Trump administration, and replaced with patriots who will work for the American people. I will not shed one tear on their account.
Tenth, Democrat leadership has a worldview which is fundamentally evil and disruptive to human flourishing.
Satan is called a liar and a murderer (John 8:44).
The collusion between Democrat leadership and the media to deceive the American public on several matters certainly meets the definition of liar.
Democrat leadership has supported abortion as a fundamental right since 1973. State-sanction abortion has caused the deaths of 65 million preborns. This certainly meets the definition of murderer.
Democrat leadership is not passive in their desire to terminate pregnancies. They want to ban pro-life crisis pregnancy centers commonly associated with Christian organizations that discourage abortion and help women with their pregnancies and post-birth care of the infant.
Additionally, Democrat leadership engages in indoctrination of Christian and conservative children into wokeness and gender ideology through the public (government) school system. They support gender ideology that leads to the sterilization and mutilation of children with body dysphoria. Education professionals, who are primarily Democrats, insist upon influencing their students towards accepting leftist ideologies with an eye towards gaining new converts to add to their activist ranks.
Finally, Neo-Marxism (wokeness) including the Marxian oppressor-oppressed narrative and associated anti-Americanism are fundamental aspects of the Democrat party. Accusations of racism against fellow Americans are fundamentally disruptive. Democrat leadership is fundamentally committed to resurrecting racial tension for political purposes.
These activities display the evil nature of the Democrat party.
Hebrews used a phrase “sons of Belial” (1 Samuel 2:12, 2 Corinthians 6:15).
Belial means “worthlessness” or “evilness”.
In Hebrew society, sons reflect the essential nature of their fathers. Often, sons worked with their fathers to learn their shared occupation.
Democrat leaders are sons of Belial. In fact, they are worse than worthless. They are destructive influences in our nation. Their destruction, worthlessness, and corruptive influence extends beyond the Biden administration and applies to the leadership as a whole.
The aforementioned are ten reasons that the Democrat party should never be allowed to lead our nation again.
Regarding Joe Biden, his wickedness surpasses any previous president in my lifetime. The pardons and commutations of sentences for 37 death row inmates comprised a massive injustice to the families and friends of the victims.
I encourage Americans to carefully consider these reasons at the voting booth in future elections.
Robert Sparkman
1Social Justice is a commonly used term to describe the objective of wokeness which claims that power is skewed towards the elite oppressors (white, heterosexual, cisgender, native-born Christian males) and that discrimination needs to occur to correct this imbalance. In relation to crime, social justice involves sympathy with the criminal as an oppressed person, which is fundamentally injust. This injustice is corrected by leftist through bail reform and favorable judicial treatment that the elite oppressor class does not benefit from.
2Progressive is a commonly used term to describe the leftist, Neo-Marxist worldview. Its adherents consider themselves as the elite, enlightened class who are leading the rest of ignorant humanity towards the light. Like many Neo-Marxist terms, it contains a propagandistic element that flatters insiders and their worldview. In reality, Neo-Marxist terms cover up hideous evil.
3Comprehensive sex education is a sanitized term to describe the instruction of school children in all manners of heterosexual and LGBT sexual practices. Immodest, detailed discussion of sexual activities of the LGBT communities are included. This instruction may include topics such as bestiality, pornography, and the use of sexual toys. The word comprehensive implies that no topic is off limits. Conservatives would obviously object to the instruction of their children into such matters. Often, the instructor is involved in the associated lifestyles and is an enthusiastic evangelist for their cause.
4 My use of the term transgender should not be construed as an acknowledgement that I acknowledge the existence of true transgenderism. I do not acknowledge that anyone can transition from one gender to another.
RELATED CONTENT
Joe Rogan interviewed Mark Zuckerberg recently. Zuckerberg discussed the Biden administration and their effort to force Facebook to submit to their leftist propaganda ministry and its narratives relating to the Clinton Russian collusion/Steele dossier hoax, the Hunter Biden laptop issue, and the Covid vaccination.
Zuckerberg stated that the Biden administration wanted to force them to censor users who stated simple truths such as the fact that vaccines have side effects.
He admitted that the fact checkers have a strong leftist bias.
William Wolfe, Executive Director for the Center for Baptist Leadership, discusses the undermining of Republican presidencies by Democrat bureaucrats in his interview with Kevin Roberts of Heritage Foundation.
Wolfe was a young staffer during the first administration of President Donald Trump. He describes his shock at the overt, organized efforts of bureaucrats to undermine Trump’s administration.
He describes the Neo-Marxist strategy of the “long march through the institutions” which involved populating key institutions (schools, government, corporations, churches) with Neo-Marxists, particularly at the leadership level, to undermine society with their worldview.
This is an excellent discussion.
National Conservatism panel members discuss hindrance of the accomplishment of the President’s objectives from the Pentagon and the bureaucracy.
The US bureaucracy was filled with leftists in the Obama administration. Conservatives were purged from its ranks.
The left exercises multiple strategies of resistance to thwart the direction of Republican administrations. Bureaucrat resistance is one of these strategies.
I have set the video at a particularly pertinent section. Feel free to watch the entire video, though.
National Conservatism has an awesome weekly episode.
Democrat politicians want to close crisis pregnancy centers. Crisis pregnancy centers are pro-life and commonly affiliated with Christian organizations. Crisis pregnancy centers do not promote abortion like Planned Parenthood. Instead, they aid mothers with counseling, health care and other needs before and after birth. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is one of the leaders in the leftist movement that seeks to shut down crisis pregnancy centers.
The following videos educate viewers on crisis pregnancy centers.
Heritage Foundation explains the issue of rogue Soros prosecutors and district attorneys.
Democrat party leadership considers itself to be progressive. However, the fruit of Democrat part policies don’t reflect progressiveness in the sense of improvement. High crime rates in Soros-run cities indicate deterioration, not progress.
These videos expose the issues with radical environmentalism and green energy activists. Alex Epstein, in particular, presents convincing arguments that leftist activist panic over fossil fuels is ill-founded.
The Biden administration has told the public that crime is down since the Trump administration.
This is a false claim.
The Redacted channel on Youtube provided an excellent summary of non-citizen criminals that have been allowed to enter and remain in the USA.
The cast created a spreadsheet which summarizes ICE data in a concise manner. It is presented in the video.
These numbers are seriously understated as crimes committed by immigrants are often unreported and/or unsolved.
Non-citizen criminals include 662,566 individuals who have committed a wide variety of crimes, including assault (108,992), burglary (18,058), commercialized sexual offenses (4,001), other sexual offenses (12,626) dangerous drug offenses (72,059), homocide (15,272), kidnapping (3,484), larceny (31,179), robbery (12,426), stolen property (4,155), stolen vehicles (3,943), traffic offenses (128,153), and weapons offenses (17,416).
Immigrant communities are not happy with non-citizen crimes, either, as non-citizen criminals tend to prey upon others in the recent immigrant community.
I asked ChatGPT (AI) to create a chart for me comparing 2019 crime statistics to 2023 crime statistics.
2019 was selected to represent Trump’s administration because it is the best year for comparison. 2020 statistics reflect the aftermath of Covid and the George Floyd riots. It is my position that Democrats and their allies are responsible for inciting the increase of crime in 2020.
2023 was seleced to represent Biden’s administration because it is the most recent Biden administration is the most recent Biden administration year where data is available.
ChatGPT (AI) is not infallible and sometimes renders incorrect results. I spot-checked these results and find them to be reasonable.
The comparison indicated that there were significant increases in crime between 2019 and 2023 in the categories of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter (26%), aggravated assault ( 9.7%) and motor vehicle theft (32.9%).
I think victims in progressive cities are not reporting some crimes due to slow responses related to a diminished police force and failures to prosecute offenders under rogue Soros prosecutors. Cities have a disincentive to report crime due to so-called social justice metrics as well.
Task & Purpose Youtube channel describes four reasons why the military is falling short on recruitment. One of those includes woke culture.
The USNS Harvey Milk was christened by a transgender and placed into service by the Biden administration. Harvey Milk was a pederast who initiated young men into the gay lifestyle. The ship was christened by a transgender. Biden’s administration christened other ships after activists rather than military heroes.
Gender-fluid Sam Brinton, Department of Energy employee who dealt with spent nuclear fuel, stole womens’ luggage at airports and wore the stolen clothing on at least two occasions. He was terminated from his job.
He also appeared with Rachel/Richard Levine at the French Embassy. Both wore dresses.
Joe Biden appointed Richard/Rachel Levine as Assistant Secretary for Health of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Levine evaded Senator Paul’s questions on his position regarding gender affirmation treatments of youth during the Senate confirmation hearing . The chairperson of the committee rebuked Senator Paul for his reasonable questions.
All Republican senators but Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins(R-ME) voted Nay to affirm the appointment.
All Democrat senators and two Republican senators (Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins) confirmed Levine’s appointment.
Murkowski and Collins are well-known RINOs.
Biden’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) provided guidance to instruct so-called trans women (men) under drug treatment to produce a milk-like substance from their breasts how to chestfeed their child. The substance is not nutritional so it has no value to the child. However, it is well known that men can become sexually aroused through their nipples.
How much credibility should be given to the Center for Disease Control when medical practices like this are promoted?
Here are some questions the intelligent consumer of news should ask themselves in relation to crime statistics. I have provided my thoughts in response to each question.
- Is it proper to attribute 2020 to Donald Trump’s administration? I don’t think so. 2020 was an anomaly due to BLM/Antifa rioting and the way Covid-19 was handled. In fact, I would attribute 2020 crime levels to the Democrats for inciting some of the crime. I think it is appropriate to compare 2019 crime levels to current crime levels to determine the real rate of crime increase.
- Is the FBI crime reporting complete? No. The FBI made the reporting of crime more complicated in 2021. Some departments did not report their crime data due to the additional burden of reporting.
- Are victims reporting the crimes? No. Since several large cities have less police to handle calls, some victims do not report crimes because it is a waste of time. Additionally, cities with rogue Soros prosecutors don’t prosecute certain crimes. Frustrated citizens have given up on reporting such crimes.
- Does wokeness skew the crime reporting? Yes. Since city leaders know that disparities in prosecution between one identity group and another will result in the scrutiny of the left, there is an incentive to underreport crimes committed by black and Latino persons.
- What does the news source use as their crime statistic? Is the news source using total crimes as a statistic, or the per 100,000 population crime rate? Or, is the news source discussing the rate of crime increase that has fallen? Is the news source conflating serious crimes like murder with misdemeanors? These distinctions are meaningful. For example, the claim is often made that immigration does not increase crime. This is a false claim. It may be true that the crimes per 100,000 population do not increase, but total crimes have increased. Is this a meaningful distinction? If your family member is one of those who is killed by an illegal immigrant, it is significant. Their death could have been prevented if the Biden administration had practiced tighter border control.
Concerning the Related Content section, I encourage evaluating the content with discernment. Some sources of information may reflect a libertarian or non-Christian perspective and I would not agree with all of their values, but in general I think they offer some worthwhile comments and criticisms. I do not necessarily agree with every comment by every person, but in general, I find them to be valuable or I would not include them.
I am interested in truth rather than propaganda. This blog post reflects my well-considered convictions on the related issues, and provides support for my assertions. Some of my convictions dwell in the range of principled opinion rather than unquestionable fact. I acknowledge the possibility that my understanding of events and information may need refinement and welcome legitimate criticism in a spirit of humility. Respectful comments and questions without expletives and personal attacks will be posted and I will respond to them.